Detective Asakura and Officer Nanata found themselves slinking through the dark retreat hallways to where they'd cordoned off Mr and Mrs Tanaka's original room. Like the suite the officers had been put up in, the Tanaka's suite was spacious, airy, and very white, which meant the bloodstains should be everywhere.
"Kyoko, the lights, please?"
She prodded the light switch with one of her perfectly lacquered pink nails, safely beneath some gloves, and pursed her lips. She had changed back into her slim-fit trousers and shrugged her work shirt on over her tank top. She prowled the length of the bed and glanced at the evidence cards. There was a yellow 12 on one side of the bed, supposedly where Mrs Tanaka had been sleeping. There was a glass of water on her bedside table, which was almost empty.
Detective Asakura pursed his lips, "There's a lot less blood in here than you'd expect from a stabbing. The room should be covered in it, but it's not."
He crossed his arms and turned his head to the side, "If the room is lacking in blood then maybe he wasn't killed in here," he said to himself and gently prodded the bathroom door open. They were wearing plastic gloves, masks and shoe covers, lest they contaminate the crime scene.
The bathroom was as clean as you would expect a resort bathroom to be. There was some hair in the drain, the toilet roll was running out, and there was a faint rim of grime on the inside of the sink, like someone had let water sit in it for a while. No blood. No sign of a struggle, or a scuffle. He exhaled audibly, and turned to leave, only to see Officer Nanata was still gazing at the glass of water. But she'd opened a drawer in the bedside table. Inside the drawer was a silvery blister packet of tablets. She waved it in the air triumphantly.
"She was an insomniac."
Detective Asakura's eyes widened. He crossed the crime scene and peered at the tablets in Officer Nanata's hands. The number twelve glared at him. His eyes flickered from Mrs Tanaka's side of the bed, to the tablets, to the glass of water.
He counted the individual punctures in the blister packet, there were five tablets missing, and nine yet to be taken, "We need to call her dispensary, and get a sample of that water. Something doesn't feel right. She said in her interview she'd slept better than she had in months, and then woke up to find her husband's dead body next to her. She was either high, or framed."
Officer Nanata nodded and grabbed her phone from her trouser pocket, "I'll call Fukuda. You call the dispensary."
Detective Asakura nodded, stepping out into the hall and punching in the number for the public records office. He leaned against the wall and waited to go through, grinding his teeth as the hold tune twinkled in his ears, praying he had worked something out quickly enough to solve the case before things escalated.
Walking in the dark had been terrifying the previous night. But, being in the dark with such a big group was scary for a different reason. Being in a group that size, meant it was easy to be miscounted. But that seemed to be exactly what Fumiko and Taiga were hoping for. Being inconspicuous and disappearing.
Jean-Luc and Kaho had stopped chatting via her phone when they began hiking, instead, they attempted to get Naseru to translate for them. While Jean-Luc chewed his ear off about whether he and Kaho were the infamous Jun and Yoko from the Hoshimiki Beetles, Kaho, obliviously, was asking Naseru to ask Jean-Luc what his favourite parts of Japan were so far. Naseru's eye twitched. The noise was too much. Everyone was chattering.
He didn't like it. What if the murderer was out there, utilising the noise that Fumiko had orchestrated in order to strike? What if he was waiting on this very hiking path, ready to drive a knife into one of them? What were a bunch of teenagers going to do? The thought was suffocating. It made him feel sick. Every stick that cracked under someone's foot was like a surge of electricity coursing from his head to his toes and reverberating through every cell of his body.
He balled a fist and drove his thumbnail into the flesh of his palm, waiting for the reprieve of silence, when he caught a glimpse of Kaho's big brown eyes boring into him. He felt like she'd driven a hand into the soft flesh of his stomach and clawed out his intestines, tying them into knots. She moved him to stunned silence. She didn't speak, she just gave him a look, and that look was enough. Whatever crazy scheme this team had orchestrated, he was going along with it. Because of her.
Naseru's stomach bubbled with anticipation as they reached the crux of the hike, the small summit where the trail broke into two. It was there that Fumiko threw herself into Captain Isamu. He swore as he stumbled over.
"Jesus! What happened?" he said, rearing around, just to see Fumiko, covered in smeared dirt, eyes welling with tears.
"I'm sorry!" she said, "My shoe. The lace. I didn't! I'm sorry!"
The solitary police officer was quick to help Captain Isamu to his feet, while Taiga saw to Fumiko, brushing her down and leading her to a rock face so she could re-tie her shoe. Everyone else was clustered together under the glow of dozens of phone torches. Kaho put her thumb over her phone torch, her gaze flickering to Naseru. He looked from Kaho to the rest of the group, and then to, to Kaho's surprise, Jean-Luc. He shrugged and shoved his phone into his trouser pocket, the torch glowed bright red against the fabric.
A few other members of the team did the same, and Taiga shrugged off his backpack, tying his lace too. Kaho picked up the bag and slunk toward the gap in the trees inching over half a step at a time. Naseru followed her lead and eventually, after a lot of shuffling, they slipped into the brush, jostling leaves as they disappeared from view.
"What was that?" one of the kids from the other schools asked.
"Probably just an animal," Taiga said smoothly, "Shall we get moving, Officer?"
Kaho ground her teeth. Were none of the other Hanagawa players going to join them? Kaho hadn't gone to the pools since she fell in, and yet, there she was, sneaking in with just Naseru for company.
When they could no longer hear the hikers, the pair walked down the narrow path toward the lair of the wish-granting fish.
Kaho and Naseru made a slow ascent, listening for other people. They heard a stick snap underfoot somewhere behind them. Kaho squeaked and reared around, wielding her phone torch, illuminating Eiji's shit-eating grin. He put his elbow on Yuta's shoulder and posed dramatically, tilting his chin up haughtily. Kaho deflated, tension melting from her shoulders. She flailed her arms like she was swatting them for scaring her.
"Is it only going to be us?" Kaho asked.
Yuta shook his head, "I think the Captain is coming with someone, they're waiting for another distraction. Fumiko can only fall so many times without it rousing suspicion."
Kaho nodded and turned back to the trail. They came to the clearing, where the glowing pools of algae glistened in the moonlight. Kaho's eyes scanned the space. It felt bigger without Taiga, like she was walking a million miles for a wish she couldn't even ensure would come true.
Naseru set Taiga's backpack down on the stone and unzipped it, producing nets, jars, bait, fish food and a few solar lamps. Naseru held the solar lamp over his head like a flaming torch and strode toward the incredible rock face, where he had sat the previous night. He perched on the ledge and closed his eyes, reminding himself that this place was never scary. It hadn't been scary with Barbier, only when he'd been alone.
He took a few breaths and got up from the ledge, watching Eiji scramble up the side of the rock face and return to his perch. He'd sat like a vulture, waiting to pick off any scavengers. He had a perfect vantage over the pools.
Naseru watched Kaho make her way to the pool where Naseru had seen the fish with Jean-Luc the previous day. She narrowed her eyes and dipped her fingers into the cool water. She shivered and shook her hand off.
"If only we had a periscope," Yuta huffed, crossing his arms and moving his hands to signal Eiji.
"It would make things easier, sure, but have you ever tried to look under water with one of those. Someone would be better off snorkling for it," A voice said from behind them. It was Tomohiro. He tore off his hoodie and revealed a second jumper that must have been suffocating. He squirmed free and from between the two jumpers, fell a microfibre towel. It was a small, purple piece of fabric, probably Taiga's, and had been concealed beneath the too-tight hem of Tomohiro's jumper toggle. Perfect espionage.
Beside him stood Vice Captain Sunada, peeling off his shirt and revealing a pair of swimming trunks beneath the waistband of his trousers. He grinned, "I think there should be something we can use in that backpack," he said, strolling past multiple pools and gunning for the bag. He dug his hands inside and produced a pair of swimming goggles. They were small, bright orange and had decorative yellow flowers on the back elastic. The lenses were tinted grey, and shaped like hexahedrons, sliced in two chunks. They were small, even with the give of elastic, clearly for a child.
"Himiko's goggles," Kaho said, slack jawed, "Oh he's in for it. Mum'll kill him if we break those."
Sunada stretched the elastic at the back of the swimming goggles and put them on. They were tight against his forehead, digging in against his skin and forming wrinkles that weren't quite there.
Sunada took a deep, steadying breath and adjusted them, so the bright pink swimming goggles were rammed against his eye sockets. He blinked furiously and then strode to the edge of one of the pools. He dipped a toe into the water, recoiled and gritted his teeth, and tried again, his toes curling around the edge of the stone as he stepped into the water, letting the bioluminescent algae consume him.
"He's going to come out looking like Night Of The Living Slime," Yuta laughed, "He's in for it."
Sunada surfaced from the water and let out a few laboured breaths, "So cold! So, so cold!"
Kaho nodded, "Can you see anything?"
He shook his head and dove back under the water's surface again. He bobbed up from time to time, kicking up and declaring that the whole network of pools were interconnected like they were the gaps in a tree canopy, and beneath the stone were narrow, submerged arches. Big enough, some of them at least, for Sunada to slip under and traverse from pool to pool.
Yuta had been right; Sunada was bright green, an incarnation of sentient goo. He wiped the pond water from his brow and continued to tread water. He'd slipped between thr archways dividing three pools and was in the one that had greeted Kaho just a few evenings ago. She shuffered of the thought of being submerged under there again.
"Careful, it's really deep over there!" Kaho called.
"Holy Hell, guys! There's something down there!" Sunada gasped, pointing down, "Some old rusty thing!"
Kaho and Tomohiro rushed to the edge of the pool where Sunada was treading water. There was a ring of clearer water around Sunada. He was peering down beneath him.
"Someone give me some light, I want to see this," Sunada said.
"What about the fish?" Naseru asked dryly.
"It probably doesn't even exist," Sunada said, "Light, thank you!"
Tomohiro handed Sunada a solar light, the dull glow of the bulb was swallowed by the algae, Sunada dipped his head under the water and kicked out from beneath him, diving down into the cavern below. He didn't go far before he turned back and gasped for air, "This looks like something that should be in a museum. We should mark it, tell Mr Tsukishima or Mr Shirotani!"
"Mark it with what?" Eiji asked, having finally scaled down the rock face he'd been perched on.
Sunada shrugged, "Dunno, algae, maybe. There's more than enough of that."
Yuta wrinkled his nose and scooped some algae up on his finger and drew a large exclamation mark on the side of the pool.
"Back to work, Iwao," Tomohiro laughed, "Find us a fish."
Sunada flipped him off and dove back under the surface of the water.
Kaho peered into the water, where ripples of disturbed algae were forming from Sunada's kicking.
"He should be on the swim team," Naseru said, "He's good."
"We don't have one," Tomohiro said over his shoulder, "And he loves sleep too much to go all the way to Muraniko just for a pool, and the tuition. Yeesh! We're not all made of money."
Kaho bit her lip and glanced back at the water. Would Sunada have studied at Muraniko if it wasn't that expensive?
"Does he love it?" Kaho asked instead, "Swimming."
"He can hear you," Sunada said leaning on the smooth rock face of the adjacent pool, "No sign of a fish in here."
"Sorry," Kaho said, "I just mean, you're- you're really good, you know?"
Sunada shrugged, "Can't say I don't regret it sometimes. But what we have going on here is really good too. Eiji! Any sign of it?"
Eiji and Yuta both shook their heads.
"Maybe you're stirring up the water too much and making it hide?" Yuta suggested.
"Nah, I think Sunada got all slimy for nothing – no way that thing exists."
Naseru opened his mouth, as if to speak, and then closed it again.
Kaho raised a brow, "What's up, Matsuoka?"
"Nothing," he said, turning his gaze back to the water's rippling surface.
Detective Asakura had left the hotel room in a huff. Did anyone in the local force have an iota of common sense?
He had marched Officer Nanata along with him as he paced. He had, whether consciously or not, managed to deftly avoid any onlookers as he went. His voice was low and quiet as he ran a hand through his hair and muttered to himself.
He had found himself in a small courtyard with two picnic benches and strings of fairy lights which cascaded from the guttering, to a central post, to gutters diagonally opposite. The lights were dim, but bathed the courtyard in a low yellow glow. The courtyard is overgrown, sprouting weeds and moss had grown between the stone flooring, and the benches had been devoured by woodrot. This space likely had a keep out sign on at least one door, but he hadn't seen one, nor had Officer Nanata mentioned one. Whether they were supposed to be in the courtyard, aside, Detective Asakura's brain was swimming. Mostly brimming with insults about a cripplingly underfunded and or incompetent police force in the local area. First there was that string of missing High Schoolers and now a murder in the middle of a nature reserve, neither of which, the local force seemed to be able to solve on their own. If Asakura remembered correctly, as he often did, the only reason the local prefecture's police department had even closed that first case was because a high schooler had reported finding some of them. What had happened to old fashioned policing?
He was babbling, ranting, words were coming from his mouth at an inhuman pace as he garbled out strings of semi-coherent thoughts and half-baked insults. He turned his head and saw Officer Nanata, holding a hot pink jotter pad in her hands, scribbling furiously in a pen that had a pompom on the cap. He balled a fist and ground his teeth.
"I'm sorry, Detective," Officer Nanata said, "I think I lost you somewhere when you started calling the institution a," she glanced at her notepad, "Ahem, a 'cesspit of festering bias and prejudice'."
Detective Asakura's eye twitched. Nanata was sharp, and attentive. Perhaps all wasn't lost.
He took a deep breath and met her eyes.
"The blood spatter is inconsistent with a stabbing. And Mrs Tanaka should have heard a disturbance, which means something kept her from hearing it – either, she's an accomplice in his murder and is lying through her teeth, which, from the blood evidence alone, seems unlikely, or, she has been incriminated by a third party," he said, "Kyoko, what's the status on Fukuda?"
Officer Nanata held up a pipette, sealed away in a zip-loc evidence bag, "You've been in outer space, or wherever for so long that you didn't even see him? He came and went. This is one of three samples he took from the water glass."
He blinked furiously. How long had he been trying to force puzzle pieces together that didn't fit that he didn't notice the forensics technician come and go? His eye twitched again.
Officer Nanata sighed and ran a hand through her thick, glossy hair, "I had a similar hunch. I used to have really bad insomnia when I was a cadet. Had to take a ton of pills to get some sleep. When they worked, which was rare at the beginning, I was out of commission for twelve, fifteen and sometimes even twenty hours. If Mrs Tanaka is anything like me, she wouldn't have known about her husband until late, not first thing in the morning."
Detective Asakura nodded curtly "I'm glad we're on the same page. Did Fukuda give an ETA for results?"
"On a basic test he can do from here, we have about two hours. Longer 'til there will be papers confirming it. The man's off the clock 'til nine in the morning. Lucky for some."
Detective Asakura pursed his lips, "And the full toxicology?"
"Hard to say," Officer Nanata said, "But as your token woman, I have to say I'd bet you lunch that Mrs Tanaka was drugged up with Rohypnol."
The detective pursed his lips, his narrow-eyed gaze drinking up every inch of her, deducing, theorising, and speculating about everything Nanata was saying.
He raised a brow, "If you're betting lunch, I'll take that bet."
"Thought you would," Nanata said with a grin, "I'm thinking of recanvassing the employee and guest testimonies. The kids were too wrapped up in their own angsty bullshit to have seen something for definite. They're perceptive, sure, but right now, we need to narrow in on who would have had the capacity to roofie a guest. Mr Shirotani and Mr Tsukishima ought to have a record of who was working the dining room on the night Mr Tanaka was killed."
"And that," Detective Asakura grinned, "Is why I have you on my team."
"You flatter me, Detective. But I know you just like a pretty young thing in a short skirt," Officer Nanata leaned close to him and flicked him between the eyes, at the bridge of his nose.
Detective Asakura's cheeks reddened as he clutched his nose. Nanata's strike had been precise and painful, like stubbing your pinky toe on a piece of furniture, or taking a knee to a table, or an elbow to the doorframe. The pain was bone-deep and throbbing. It felt like his nose was gushing blood, but there was nothing to be seen.
Officer Nanata smirked at him, waving the evidence bag over her head, taunting him. He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair, "Focus Nanata. If not the wife, then it has to be someone who knew that they were unhappy enough that her killing him could be accepted as the truth."
Nanata paused, pursing her lips, "Like I said. Kitchen staff. Waiters. Servers. Chefs. Barmen. But, before we go and take a nosedive into paperwork, let's spend a few minutes in actual nature, not some decrepit corner that we really shouldn't be lurking in. You don't get air this clean in the city."
Detective Asakura frowned, "Fine. It's long-past curfew for the teenagers anyway."
Kaho and her teammates had been staring into the vast expanse of pools for almost two hours. Their teeth were chattering, and Sunada was only in the water to prevent hyperthermia. He trod water while everyone else did the ground work, like a mermaid unable to leave the water from whence it came.
"I'm tired," Tomohiro said, "Think Coach will let us just give up?"
Kaho yawned, "We've been here longer today than we were the last time."
"Yeah, because you decided to turn yourself into a green goo creature. No offence, Sunada," Eiji laughed.
"We had a proper look this time and there's no sign of it. Are you sure it's not some kind of fairytale?" Yuta asked,
"I for one," Sunada chimed in, "Would love to go back to my cabin and shower. I think we should call it. What do you say, Matsuoka?"
Naseru shrugged, glancing over his shoulder and back to the team, "I could sleep."
It took them a while to get Sunada out of the water, warm him up enough for him to put his pruned flesh into his dejected clothes, and slink back into the treeline. They yawned, treading carefully as they crested the steepest part of the top hiking trail and making the brisk, downhill descent, completely oblivious to the proximity of the police, two of whom were heading to the exact same place.